Engineer Guy

I ordered from eBay and installed a Trailer Brake Controller from an Ohio Ford Dealer. I wrote into my Sales Contract that it would be 'flashed' @ n/c. This was done by Appt. this morning in Denver. I was told it worked.

That's the Good News. The proverbial Bad News, delivered after ~1.5 hours, is that I was not allowed to leave and drive Home my 6 day old 2014 4x4 Super Cab F-150 STX due to a Recall on the Steering Gear Box. From the Form Letter printed out for me, and linked below:

'What Is The Issue?

On your Vehicle, a Component in the Steering Gear Assembly may have been installed incorrectly. An incorrectly installed Steering Component may lead to impaired steering, including the loss of steering control, which could increase the risk of a crash. Until this recall service has been completed, DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE.'

'What Will Ford And Your Dealer Do?

Ford Motor Company has authorized your Dealer to do the following:

- Transport your Vehicle to the Dealership for repairs.
- Provide you with a Rental Vehicle while your Vehicle is in for service.
- Return your Vehicle to you when repairs are complete.

These services will be provided to you free of charge.'

See the entire Letter here:

Recall ~ Steering Gear Box - 2 Pages

According to 'Birth Certificate' information I asked for this morning, my Truck was completed on 01 June in Kansas City. A separate Receipt found in a Door Pocket confirms it loaded on a Train Car on 03 June.

The last 8 VIN details are 'EKE70154'. 5.0 L V-8 6 Speed Auto. GVW 7350 lbs. Towing Package. No Max Tow [no need].

A minute Hertz Rental Car from Chevy was delivered for me to the Service Department @ n/c. The optional $10/day Deductible 'gap' Coverage that I took in order to avoid my $500- Deductible if hit was on my Nickel. A $50- Refundable Fee was taken up front to cover me not filling the Gas Tank upon return. Standard terms I knew well from lots of Biz Travel back when working.

The Dealer wanted my Truck for an estimated 1.5 days although the Letter states repairs take 0.5 day. No problem.

I'm setting up to Tow 3k or 4k lbs. next week to our Retirement House through the 11,000' Eisenhower Tunnel and over 10,600' Vail Pass. Along with having Air Bags installed soon, as I've used for years to level the Vehicle rear end, I'm glad this was caught now and not avoided Chevy style.

Note the June 2014 date on this Form Letter.

As of this Post time, I have not received this Recall Notice by USPS Mail; e.mail; or my Cellphone number. My sense later this morning at the Sales Dealership 5 blocks away was that they did not know of it. The Service Dept. is usually a separate Business/Profit Center. I was told this Recall was likely caught when my Truck VIN was looked up this morning. Recall work is reimbursed by FordMoCo, so the Service Dept. looks upon it favorably.

I hope this information helps others here.

Because some details have changed from the very helpful TBC Installation 'Sticky' here, I planned to post my TBC Installation in a few days. I have full OEM TBC Documentation and OEM Schematics I'll scan and post, along with close-up Pictures.

BarryT82

iTrader: (1)

I'd make the dealership cover the insurance or give you another truck as a loaner while they have yours.

Commeeche

wow, are we all going to get a letter for a bad steering gear box now. That sucks man, its a kick to the feels are a brand new truck under a week old to have a recall like that already

Spong

Interesting. Was there a date range for the effected vehicles? Mine was built April 15th in KC and delivered in June.

Red13

The recall was only for a few trucks, less than 10,000. Most are still on the lots and trains. i feel ya on the rental. make ford give you a repo raptor for a few days.

Engineer Guy

Many thanks Red13 for a putting a Fence around the issue for me and others here re: affected Vehicles.

I did a quick Recall Search here and on the 'Net before posting, and found nada. I deduced the problem had to be 'contained'. The very existence of the Form Letter I received and linked suggested relatively few Customers were affected. That Recall Letter is time-stamped on umpteen Ford Servers, proving prior Ford knowledge of the issue. An Attorney representing, say, an affected Family would have a field day with Ford knowing of this issue and not aggressively warning all Customers, along with correcting the fault. Since we would not have gotten this Recall Letter at our W. Colorado Retirement House, driving around not notified of this Fault was entirely possible. Same with Trailering Folks on the Road.

There's 2 Runaway Truck Ramps on each of the Passes on I-70 I'm towing over next week, and they're used regularly by Semis. Any Ford Recall that doesn't stop us mid-Summer Trip in a distant Town, or prevents us + Trailer from screaming off a rural Mountain Pass we'll cross is OK by me.

I didn't find out the start/end date of this Recall, as Spong asks. I was busy trying to figger what I needed to retrieve from my Truck as this news broke. The Hertz Rental Car Gal doing my Paperwork on-site was quite the Babe, so my aging Brain was pleasantly frozen re: gathering further Recall data.

sigma pi

Getting us a pic of her right?

Id pick out my hertz car from here
http://hertzdreamcars.com/

Engineer Guy

Yah, will give getting a Pic a go when I get back my Truck!

Stage3Motorsports

Just had my FX4 hit in the front and enterprise tried to give me a VW bug, I calmly explained that wasn't going to fly and got a 14 dodge ram 5.7 hemi. Maybe I should have taken the bug, the dodge is terrible. Good luck with your truck!

NASSTY

According to this article the recall affects 5,675 F150s built between May 26-June 19.
http://articles.economictimes.indiat...teering-trucks